Manuel Arvide Movies

A favorite era of Mexican cinema returns to the screen in this well-wrought tale of a family and how it copes with the dynamic changes happening all around. The time is the end of the Mexican revolution and Porfirio Diaz is about to lose power. On the ranch known as La Gaviota, the feudal patriarch (Fernando Soler) of a small family and a large group of peasant workers is caught in the contemporary drama. He represents the old, entrenched, often arrogant aristocracy, and his daughter (Maricruz Olivier) more or less carries on in the same tradition. Opposite this holdover from past times is a revolutionary (Antonio Aguilar) who organizes the family's peasant workers, setting up a dichotomy that reflects the events in the country as a whole. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, Rovi

Meant to be a sentimental, romantic melodrama this story directed by Tito Davison and based on a novel by Stefan Zweig never quite launches itself fully. At the core of the heart-tugging is an invalid woman who has a pure and devoted love for an officer in the Mexican army. The setting is in Guanajuato at the beginning of the 20th century when the revolution was underway. Excellent cinematography takes complete advantage of the gorgeous scenery around Guanajuato and greatly enhances the story itself. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, Rovi

Mexico's contribution to the 1957 Berlin Film Festival was the Color-Cinemascope star vehicle Tizos. The ever-popular Maria Felix stars as a white woman who enters into a romance with a Mexican Indian, played by singing star Pedro Infante (who died shortly after the film's completion). The racial barriers between the lovers prove to be insurmountable, resulting in tragedy. Director Ismael Rodriguez spends a great deal of time establishing the folklore and traditions of Infante's people, much to the fascination of his audience. Likewise enraptured by Tizoc were the participants at the Berlin Festival, where the film scored a significant success. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

This tuneful romantic melodrama is set in a tiny Mexican village and is comprised of three storylines. One tale concerns a pair of young lovers from rival villages who will not be able to marry until a long time feud is ended. In another tale, an heir to a large fortune falls in love with an impoverished girl. His family is dead set against the match. When he is diagnosed with a fatal tumor, the man begs the girl to marry him, but she refuses and instead arranges for him to marry another. In the third story, a matador's comely sister falls in love with a street vendor. Unfortunately, the matador hates her beloved and to break them up permanently, slyly convinces the peddler to enter the dangerous bullring. Fortunately for the sister, her brother's scheme fails spectacularly. She then marries the peddler and makes an ironic discovery. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi